KPMG leads Europe with €4bn fees

While rivals squabble over who is the leader in the UK marketplace, KPMG is
set to announce it is a €4bn (£3.2bn) firm, making it the largest European
accountancy firm.

The Big Four firm’s year end falls at the end of September, and this year
will be the first full year of the firm reporting as a European LLP.

The revenue figure will comprise mainly the revenues of the UK and German
firms, with the Swiss and Spanish firms only joining the European firm recently.

KPMG is set to report in euros, but will have to file accounts for its UK arm
at Companies House, meaning rivals will still be able to scrutinise its UK
performance.

KPMG in the UK is understood to have had a good year, and despite some
cutbacks in corporate finance, the firm is likely to announce at least a small
increase in recruitment, contrary to earlier suggestions there is no specific
policy freezing hiring.

Globally, the firm is currently holding a virtual world jobs fair to
advertise vacancies across the world. It ends at 9am tomorrow.

The European firm’s numbers will also be the first to fully reflect 12 months
of the credit crunch, giving an insight into how the crisis has impacted the
practice profession.

The other Big Four firms all have earlier year ends, meaning some of their
revenues were earned at the top of the market.